 Karen Bernard, let's be serious. Who's your favorite bird or who do you spend the most time with? Well Hello, my fellow snippers and flighters. My name is Marlene McCohen and this is your favorite bird Vinnie the gangsta, right Vinnie? Are you gonna be quiet today? You're gonna be like, huh? How you gonna be? Oh, you chill, okay? Anyway, Vinnie and I have a really fun video for you today. We're gonna do a Q&A I asked you guys on Instagram things that you wanted to ask me about me and the birds So I'm gonna answer them for you now a lot of these questions are bird related and then a lot of them are not Yeah, bird related so as I go through them if I feel like I want to do another video for non bird related questions We'll just see how it goes. So I don't know what I'm gonna be doing. I'm really just gonna pick up the phone and Answer them Vinnie is really excited about this and I'm excited about this too So for those of you wondering how to get this shout out join my Instagram and when I ask questions Answer them because I've been doing this for quite a few videos now and I will shout you out By the way, Vinnie wants you to know about his Vinnie gang hoodie because it's just so cool If you want to become part of the Vinnie gang the link is below to order your new shirts I just got in all the sizes. So order yours before they go out, right Vinnie and Vinnie also wants to tell you about Patreon where you could become a flighter and help me get out videos earlier. So let's get right into the video First question Abby 212 00 I know you're right here. Come here. Abby wants to know can you tell us about your first birds? My first bird, you don't need to be jealous was a yellow cockatiel named Dooley that my dad surprised me with after Begging him and begging him for a bird and he told me that All right, you know what if you're not gonna be in the video, you can't be back there screaming good job and Yeah, I I am staying here. Don't tell me to stay here. I am staying here Such a brat. This story is actually on my channel somewhere But basically what happened was I went to a friend's house and they were babysitting another cockatiel named Louie and I Saw Louie and I can't say I was like I was always into animals But like I didn't know that birds had any personality at all I mean, I loved birds outside my mom said when I was little like really young I'd be like look at the birds as far as I knew if I wanted a pet I'd want a dog or a cat and then they asked me do you want to hold this bird? And I'm like what I could hold the bird and just like it just came to me I was like whoa if I didn't know this does anyone else actually know this this is mind-blowing This is amazing. My dad said I couldn't have a bird. He was like no you can't we don't have caged animals That's not fair and I just like made this like plea. I was like no, he won't be a caged bird You don't understand. You didn't see this bird will hang out with them everywhere And I guess in hindsight it kind of became a promise to him that bird and to all the birds in the world now because now we promote engage not caged which is My hashtag that I created. So yeah, Dooley is in like every childhood photo He was went everywhere with us It was just like he was the bird of my life and obviously changed my life Abbey 212 300 I mean 0000 also wants to know did I go to college and if so did I enjoy it? Yes, I did I went to Drake University It's in Iowa ran some place to go considering I had come from out of the country I I grew up in in New Jersey, but I lived in Israel for a while So I had gone to college from there graduated by the time I was 21 with a degree in broadcasting Loved it, but didn't like I knew I was in like a small town for myself But and it was just odd like I grew up on the East Coast. So to go to Iowa was a little bizarre But I got a great education there and actually because I was in broadcasting and because they were really big in Broadcasting and ran like the relays like I got a lot of hands-on experience I ran camera for years every summer at the horse races. I was like a camera person So yeah, my technical knowledge of cameras and directing I could direct a live show Making radio commercials all of that all of that went into it So it was all about writing and all that Kristen M. XO XO Is there any type of bird you have never owned that you want to in the future? That's such a good question Okay, so to be honest we I thought that our dream bird would be a high-synth macaw George does too. I think that's George's dream bird But when I went over to Carolyn's house and I met Glory I obviously fell in love with love and I would obviously fall in love with Glory because she's such a sweet bird But the loudness of the voice would make it a lot to take on just like because I guess I always expect to have a Rescue if I had a baby of any bird. Yeah, I would love a baby high-synth macaw It would be a beautiful experience but I just feel personally that birds come to me and I'm afraid to think of a bird because any bird I think of comes to me. So I and I don't need any more birds I kind of always wanted to have a really good toucan experience But I'm just like anti manifesting a toucan because like I just Antimanifest all birds because if I even think of one they just come to me Like it's just the weirdest thing like even the way Vinnie came to me Like I just had thought of like I wanted What why do you come over here and tell that story? I wanted a Rosie that day and that day I miraculously got a call. So I'm just very careful ALS Pam says did you ever think about giving up the African Gray? What was the difficult most difficult thing about rescuing the African Gray? I think the most difficult thing about it was not knowing if it's going to happen We never thought that we would give up usually you think maybe I'll leave this to somebody else's hands But we had a lot of really great people there as you guys know It was not just us hope for pause was a huge huge huge part in that and they paid For every single thing that you saw that was made available in that rescue So I just felt like it was a really serious team like us being the bird lovers and them being like You know the fighters for animals in general you guys got to check out their channel giving up was not an option Especially seeing the bird alive and like there and dancing. No, it was not an option Patricia Joelle aren't it doesn't show me the rest of the name if it's too long. I'm so sorry How do your birds deal with you leaving for a few days? Okay? Obviously, it's not the easiest thing for birds. You guys know that I do that time for technique Why don't you come here? But I'm fortunate enough to be in a situation where George's mom is Amazing with the birds both his mom and dad. In fact, Rocky likes his dad They had lived with us for a little while. So they're very accustomed to all the birds. She loves the birds feed them They probably get better meals with her than they ever would with me Although you guys know I feed my birds healthy fruits and vegetables and all of that I'm just saying like she's one that like loves to cook and loves to feed them As far as getting as much outtime they obviously get more out time when they're with me But I always have different people come and visit them I try not to travel at the same time as my sister a lot because my sister does really well and she'll come and like Give them out time on top of what George's mom is giving them. So when I do come back They get excited Vinnie always laughs And you could just tell that they're happy that we're back cupcake unicorn wants to know if my bird Have any favorite songs Ringo likes Barbara and Beach Boys Actually, Jersey's favorite song right now is perfect 10. She Loves it. It's a song that Randy Raj used in the video for the Vinnie gang hoodies I put it on and she just loves it I'm really excited to find a song that she likes because Usually it was sporadic when she dances like more like skater stuff Vinnie loves gangsta stuff You put on Eminem any of that with a really fast beat He likes and he also likes me to be involved in it Rocky likes Disney and Mandy more and Cody likes anything like he'll snap to a beat Classic me wants to know why is Vinnie so evil? Is it really because he's a gangsta? I'm gonna ask him Vinnie What's up? Why why are you so evil? He doesn't know what to say to that. You're not evil No, no, they just want to know if it's because you're a gangsta. Are you a gangsta? I Hope your feelings aren't hurt. You're gangsta. Oh Now you're putting on the cute. He's like, I'm not evil. I'm the sweetest bird in the world The answer is yes, it's because he's a gangsta funny tiktoks wants to know any ideas Why my bird smells like a warm fireplace? Yes one it could be that your bird is near a warm fireplace or To because birds just smell any kind of fantastic and that's the kind of smell that you like or your neighbor's cooking barbecue Alana J 2004 wants to know which of my birds has the best sniff Well Vinnie has like a really good sniff But it's like no one can smell it except for me because I get all up close because so had hands down the best sniff So Picasso was the one and Rocky has oh such a good smell I could just smell his feathers from like a foot away Karen Bernard. Let's be serious Who's your favorite bird or who do you spend the most time with? Well, my favorite bird was Picasso That's the truth and I'm like so hurt about Picasso not being here that like it's hard for me to like have another bird Like take that like favorite spot. I've been hanging out a lot with Vinnie lately Jersey's always out like Jersey. I don't think that bird is the least amount of cage time out of any bird in the entire world She's always like out whether or not she's with me or not The favorite bird like in the house like for some reason that gets away with everything and you guys probably see him the least But like he's just gets like I don't know like everyone just loves him and bonded with him in terms of like me George and Jenna is Cody. They just love Cody. Angel Coco and it's not showing me the rest. How old is Vinnie? I have no idea Vinnie could be 30 years old for all. I know he's definitely over 20 You could sell by like his eyes and also because he looked like that before like when I first got him He already was obviously over like 20 years old. Henry Rica is Rocky more bonded to you or George Definitely George. Like if this bird is near George, I am Nothing to him. I am a big interference to their love. Miss Elizabeth Ma and then it cuts off. I don't know why Instagram needs to fix itself. What is your absolute? Favorite breed of bird and dog. Okay, so breed for dog. Okay dog It's about the dog's personality like Harry is one of those dogs that you know He's a human being, you know how some souls of animals are like the animal like Sandy is a dog Okay, like she's not as self-aware as Harry. Harry is a human Communicates like a human being but then like he is a little more bossy and difficult than Sandy Not difficult in a in a in a bad way just like, you know, you gotta like bend to him Sandy's like I just want to be outside playing all the time. Okay So like that's why Sandy's perfect for me because with all of these personalities Harry can be very Overwhelming for dogs. It doesn't matter. It's really just about the personality I love Sandy and I love Harry if I was to go get a dream dog I could only really base it on like I guess cuteness. You know, I was wanted a papillon And then I found out I think Sandy is kind of like half papillon. So it worked out I don't know. I guess I'm always happy with what I have as far as my favorite Bird species it differs from day-to-day, but I don't think I could live life Like if I had no birds and I had to start over or something I would make sure I always had a mustache parakeet and always had an African gray I think Jersey's a very special cockatoo though She's just sweet and very special like compared to other cockatoos I've had because I've had an an two lesser sulfur-crested cockatoos one is Thai that we have and I've had Vinny Vinny you want to say hi and I've had Vinny and Jersey Aaron 091 2200 where does learn Vinny learn some of his phrases Vinny? Where the heck do you learn the stuff that you say sometimes? He repeats things right away like someone comes in and I'll be like This is Joe and like he knows the name Joe right away or like my friend Ginny came over and I'd be like Ginny tell Ginny this and he'd be like Ginny and you're like wow like he really picks up names very fast Some stuff is just nonsense and some stuff is like did he just say that I'm totally creeped out. Oh my god He said it again. So yeah, I don't know where he learned any of it except that I know that he can repeat things very fast and Involve himself in it Jules Pam says are all of your bird's hands fed? I don't know I mean maybe at one point, but right now they're all my rescues So I have no idea how that went down before I got them K. Vam Syrogen says dude. Does George know that Vinny loves him? Yeah, he knows especially because the other day or a few weeks ago George was away on vacation for work when he came back Vinny was so excited like Vinny Just stayed on his shoulder for like an hour and yeah and Hung out with him and laughed and beat boxed and then Vinny bit him later like literally like a few hours later I think it was like I'm mad that he's gone away and when George is away He always says where's George when's he coming? Why did he leave? So yeah, he knows Chromey homie 24 wants to know how are you guys holding up after losing Picasso? It was really hard and George and I both deal with grief in the same way So it's hard to like lean on one another because we're both like stressed and we're both angry It would hurt to look for him sometimes because it would hurt that there was no Response and so we would both like behave very difficult him more so like cuz I think he wasn't there to see it So like for him It's like what happened like why did this happen? So it's been hard, but obviously we are Yeah, that makes sense. We're dealing with it, you know, I still drive around and like look like was he somewhere nearby Am I missing it? Like what's going on? You know, you know the Bend Girl says why don't you free fly in? Will you take your birds out on a harness? Okay? This is really an important subject so I'll touch on it a little bit But I should make a video my birds are rescues I know I said in a video before that free flying is better with baby birds And I still agree with that and someone wrote a comment and said you shouldn't like spread that rumor And the hard thing with videos is like I am never a hundred percent Like one way about something or another and so just because I didn't like put disclaimer and say but you can free fly Rescues of course you can and Carolyn herself does doesn't mean that I don't think that or I'm promoting one way or the other But a lot of the times with rescue birds, especially mine and I'll give you my personal reasons why I don't free fly I'd love to and see a bird fly free. I admire it 100% But my birds are flighted and they do get exercise and they get a lot of exercise in the house Which is also valuable first reason for me personally is that there are a lot of hawks here in California and I have a lot of small birds I have Rocky that could maybe be a free flighted bird But when your birds are older, you don't know like rocky didn't come to us till he was 24 years old You don't know if the bird has the right muscle build if the birds been building muscles If it's gonna drain them a lot to fly it takes a lot of training to free fly these people are so Amazing at what they do so it's not something that I can just come in and go I'm the expert now on free flying and since I'm not an expert on free flying I'm not gonna put my birds in that Situation I would take them and get them the proper training and spend as much time as as it takes Before to get them to that point and a lot of professional free flyers Don't have a bunch of rescues that they're not currently free flying to worry about all day And I don't know every free flyer schedule But I know all the dedication and work that it takes to focus on training a bird to free fly I don't think I have that with all the rescues that I do have So I have to give them a lot of attention and focus as it is throughout the day for them to be engaged in not cage And also when you free fly a bird, it has to be a bird that you are bonded to that you guys have a certain amount of trust And I don't have that with rocky in terms of being able to free fly him George wood But then we're back to the situation of he's an older bird. You don't know what condition his muscles are in Birds get arthritis osteoporosis There's a lot of things that you just don't know when you have a bird that age their instincts are not the same They may not enjoy flying in the same way that other birds do and I know that sounds like a weird comment But it's it's not and I should go into this in more detail in a video, but yes, do I love free flight? I love it. I respect it so much. I think the birds are so so happy I just don't think any of the birds that I have this point in my life are great candidates for it Is what I should say Cassie red panda. How long have you had your birds? And are you planning on getting any more pets? I never plan on getting pets just like things happen and they come to me at this point And then it's been a little bit Exasperated because I have the channel and people are aware of what I do with birds So now birds come to me and then I get myself put in a certain situation Where I feel like I have to help and obviously I want to help but at the same time I don't ever want to be a person that goes out and gets pets to I don't know what because I could imagine that it It could look like that but for me I'm with my birds all day long And they are a lot of work, but I do have really great skills at maintaining them all right now as it is I don't know when this video is coming out. There is something that is gonna happen and If it has happened by the time this video comes out, then you know what it is and if it hasn't happened then I know that's so mysterious, but it's something you guys have wanted to know about miss Elizabeth ma How long have you and George been together? Probably like ten years. What is the longest you've had a bird? I guess Dooley Dooley was our first bird. We had him up until he was about 15 years old That's when he died Amont wants to know how did you train your birds so well my birds get trained? so well Because I include them in everything So I have birds that are great at going to people and like letting you hold them pretty much You could hold all of my birds except for Rocky in terms of outside Socialization but in terms of them being trained and bonded to me and like everyone else in the family It's really just about everyone Including them and a lot of positive reinforcement. So in case there's any behaviors They're exhibiting that I don't want then I really just think in positive enforcement is so important for birds Because they don't care about you yelling at them and stuff like that 11% how do you find time to take care of this many birds? I know and do YouTube and Do merchandising? How do you take time to take care of this many birds? I know and run a channel and keep a house clean. Well, I don't know. I feel like they're part of the family I just include them in everything. I have some obsessive compulsive issues So I think that actually helps because like I can just do things really fast like I find ways I'm like my own conveyor belt with cleaning and keeping things nice because I have to run this channel at the same time Something I didn't expect I would be doing, you know And a lot of things I do for the channel like merchandising and making the videos and editing them It's all um, it's all a lot, but The birds come first and they are my family and I Make a point of eating with them and if I have to do something and I've been away all day That's why it's good that you know There's also George and other people that are familiar with my birds But if I absolutely do have to be away all day and I feel like they didn't get time Then I don't go out later again Like I make sure like, you know, George could be like do you want to go to the movies? I'll be like, no, let's let's just watch a movie with the birds so that they're all out for a good five hours Doing whatever they're doing watching snacking hanging, you know, like then I go shower with them all, you know, like I really make sure That they are included at different parts of the day. I also have this Outdoor aviary to give them some sun when the weather is nice So sometimes I can come in and like get things done while they're playing out there with their toys and getting sun And then you know, I bring them all in and then we all eat dinner together before they go outside They all eat lunch with me. So so it is a lot of work, but it's totally worth it I went somewhere once on vacation actually to Washington and I got very panicked and depressed because and paranoid And then I realized it's because there was so Nothing to do not in Washington Just like where I was like we all chilled out by like 6 p.m And me always having something to do keeps my mind off being um any kind of compulsive So the birds like helped me with that I guess like first I was like dang like people ask me all the time You're so OCD the birds throw seeds. They throw this. How do you handle it? Is like isn't it like anti you and it's just like no I realized they help with any kind of compulsive thoughts because I have no time to do anything except think about them If it's too quiet, my mind gets paranoid So um, I guess there's that and um, I just try to make it all work Just try to do my best the channel has been a lot of work You guys might not imagine how much work goes into a youtube channel I do everything myself like shipping your shirts everything if you guys want some Vinnie gang cooties. I like I'm in charge of everything I recently have had my friend chris edit these videos That's been enabling me to get them out earlier for you guys on time Not miss any days if you guys are enjoying this and want to support that You could check out my patreon and become a flyer get early access and get exclusive content and stuff that I send out So um, yeah, that is it. I love you guys so much There's a lot more questions if you guys want to part 2 to this video There's so many cool things I wanted to answer But I just didn't feel like I had time about the birds about me and george about how I earn money people are asking me Um, how I met him. I'd love to answer all of that But I feel like this has been a long video So I'm going to give you guys a chance to have a part 2 Yay, let me know if you guys want that. I love you so much. Bye